Something's Got To Give
by Coco96
Summary: After a week at a rehab center, Yukimura slowly falls in love. But when the girl that has his heart doesn't want to always take a backseat to tennis, he's faced with the biggest decision of his life: his duty to his team or his obligation to his heart?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Okay so for this fanfic let's just assume that after the surgery and everything Yukimura had to go to physical therapy. Other than the quote at the beginning of each chapter, the only thing in _italics_ are thoughts.**

**Big thanks to my beta, coffeelatte. She's so awesome and has a lot of great fanfics!**

**-Coco**

_One day we will say hello and wish we never said goodbye.  
__-Unknown_

**Chapter One: First Encounters**

Yukimura sat idly looking out the car window at the blur of buildings and trees. He didn't want to be here. He wanted to be back at Rikkai with his fellow regulars. He wanted to hear Yanagi's calculating voice or Sanada's frustrated screams telling everyone to run an unseemly amount of laps. He wanted to watch Niou and Marui get into yet another argument over the theft of Marui's bubblegum. Truth be told, he missed everything. But in one short week he would be back. No distractions and no worries. All his thoughts would be on taking his team to achieve the three consecutive National victory.

*** Time Skip ***

Yukimura told the woman at the check-in desk his name and waited as she went to search for his file. He looked around the waiting area and noticed the peacefulness. He noted how the walls where a pale shade, the lighting was dim, and that the place seemed to invoke happy feelings in people. He knew that this place was going to ensure him a calm environment in which he could relax and focus on training. Yukimura smiled contently, the silence welcomed his body to relax and -

"That's it!"

Yukimura grimaced as the peace in his world came to abrupt halt. A man had thrown the doors open and dragged a girl into the room. Pushing her down onto one of the chairs he snarled at her to stay put and not move a muscle.

Looking up at the man, with an angelic face, the girl asked, "But what if the building catches fire?"

The man growled, turned and walked away. Once he was out of sight the girl turned in the chair. She put her back against one of the arms and her legs dangled from the other, then sighing, the girl took out her cell phone.

The silence was restored for a while when the check-in lady came back. She handed Yukimura a folder telling him that it contained his schedule for the week he was here, it also had his room assignment and the name of his trainer. Noticing the girl in the chair, the woman sighed.

"Emily, what trouble have you gotten in this time?"

The girl, whose name was apparently Emily, smiled coyly, "Why to honest, I don't really know."

The woman shook her head disapprovingly and left. There was a moment of silence, then:

"So, who are you?"

Yukimura looked at the girl in surprise. He hadn't thought she knew he was here, and if she had he thought she was ignoring him. Walking over to her, he held out his hand:

"Yukimura Seiichi, it's nice to meet you."

Shaking his hand, she replied, "My name's Roberts Emily. I'm originally from the States. So, what are you in for?"

Yukimura raised a eyebrow at her, "You make this place sound like a prison."

"Oh, trust me," she said, "for a real athlete this place is hell."

"I was recently cured of a neurological illness."

"Oh, so you're here for a full recovery. So were you like a miracle kid or something?"

"Yeah, sort of. What about you?"

"Eh, mine is pretty minor. I'm here for a sports injury. I tore muscles in my leg."

Letting curiosity get the better of him, he asked, "What do you play?"

"Well," Emily said, swinging her legs off the chair and standing up, "I play tennis mostly, but I also play a little soccer."

"Didn't the man from earlier tell you not to move?"

Emily shot him a quizzical glance before answering, "Yes. Yes he did. Why?"

"Well, you kind of just moved," Yukimura replied, just before realizing how lame he sounded.

"You know what," the girl said," you're right. But unless he installed motion detectors in the floor, he'll never know."

And with that, said girl jumped about four feet in front of the chair. She paused, looked around, then turned back and looked at Yukimura with a smile:

"Guess for now I'm safe."

"Who was he?"

"Who? Oh the old dude from before? He's my trainer… or was… I don't know if he still is actually…"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm a… difficult patient here," she said hesitantly.

"… How so?"

"She doesn't follow her training regimen," said a man, walking down the hallway to where they were.

"What's up, doc?" Emily called smiling.

"Your trainer quit," he sighed. "Emily, that's the third one this week." He turned to Yukimura, "You must be Yukimura Seiichi, I'm Suzuki Hiroshi, the head doctor here."

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Yukimura said shaking the doctor's hand.

"Now, Emily, I want you to stay away from him. This hospital can only take one rebel."

"Oh, come on, doc, admit it. If I left things around here would get too boring. Besides, miracle boy over here seems too good to be like me, and maybe if you get lucky his good behavior might rub off on me."

"Yes, well until we can find you a new trainer you are to stay off the courts, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be in my room if you need me."

She tossed her black hair over her shoulder, winked at Yukimura, and left.

Once she was out of sight, Dr. Suzuki sighed. He motioned for Yukimura to follow him down a the hallway. They took an elevator up two floors and came to a long hallway with about ten doors on each side. Yukimura was led to a door with the number 9 and the doctor explained to him the rules of staying here.

When the doctor left, Yukimura began to unpack the bag he had brought with him. His room was small with a single bed, one dresser, and a small television. Finished packing, Yukimuraf sat down on the bed looking at his training schedule. After reading through it thoroughly he set it down scandalized. He concluded that the girl in the waiting area had been right. This place was hell for a real athlete. The things they expected him to spend a day on could easily be finished in an hour maximum by a non-regular at Rikkai.

_Well, tomorrow's going to really stink._

**AN: So what did you think? Tell me in a review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thanks for the reviews! This is chapter is a bit longer because I love you all. Oh, sorry about spelling Yukimura's name wrong.**

**And if you really love Rikkai I'm coming out with a new Niou x OC story out.**

**By the way, I don't like describing characters in the story, so here's what Emily looks like: She has medium length black hair, dark brown eyes, average height, and tan skin.**

**-Coco**

**.  
**

"_Losers quit when they're tired. Winners quit when they win." -Unknown_

.

Hearing a knock on the door Yukimura got up. Seeing who it was he turned around, grabbed his training regimen, and handed it to her.

Emily took it, and after one look at it, started to laugh. Seeing the slight frown on Yukimura's face, she made her laugh subside to a giggle.

"You think this is funny? This "training" is impossible!"

Smiling, she said, "Oh come on, miracle boy, I looked you up online. You're the captain of the invincible Rikkai, right? This training shouldn't be a problem for you."

"Not what I meant. This is impossibly easy," he replied, putting a lot of emphasize on the last word.

"Well, from the looks of it you'll make it in time for the national tennis competition if you behave and follow the training."

"But will I be able to is the question. I'm not here to waste a week of my life, not when I could be out helping my team prepare."

"Look," she sighed, "wasting your time and rehab are the same thing. If you don't follow the menu they give you they could double or triple your time here. You've got a good team waiting for you to come back. You can't be stupid about this. Just stick to the training."

Yukimura gave her a look. "How do you expect me to follow that advice? Haven't you been stuck here for a while?"

"Exactly what I mean, if I had been a good little girl and followed the menu I would have been out of here about a month and a half ago. Yukimura, I have that kind of time to waste, but you don't. Your team needs you and you own it to them to try your hardest to get out of here."

"Okay, well if you're full of all this wisdom, why don't you just listen to yourself to get out?"

She shrugged. "I guess that's because you have something worth leaving for, people are waiting for you. But me? Out there, no one's waiting for me, never have had anyone, never will."

Yukimura placed any arm around her. "I'm sorry. That must be awful."

The girl let out a rueful laugh. "Actually, no that's the sad part. Considering how awful my parents are I think I'd prefer they stay of out my life."

"They don't hurt you do they?" Yukimura's voice was full of concern.

"Huh? You mean like abuse?" He nodded. "No, no, no by awful I meant their personalities. They only care about business and social status and blah blah blah."

Then there was silence. It wasn't really an uncomfortable, awkward silence, more of like the silence you enjoy when two friends just don't have anything to say to each.

"What time is it?"

After a quick look at his watch Yukimura answered, "Six-thirty."

"Crap! We're late!"

"For…?"

"For dinner, come on," she answered dragging him out into the hallway.

Just then the elevator doors opened and out stepped a young boy.

"Emily!" the boy shouted as he raced down the hallway and ran into said girl.

She managed to keep from falling over though. And in a second he had the boy in her arms. "Hey, shortie, how you been?"

The boy stuck his tongue out at her, "I'm not short!"

She looked at Yukimura. "This is Suzuki Ryo; he's the doctor's son. And, Ryo, this is Yukimura Seiichi."

"Otou-san says you're going to be in trouble if you aren't downstairs soon!"

"Okay go back down and tell doc we'll be down in a second," she said, setting the small boy down.

"Okay!"

The small boy left with a smile and as the doors closed behind him, Emily sighed. Then, turning to Yukimura, she asked:

"You ready to meet your trainer?"

"I suppose so," he answered hesitantly.

Once they got their food they sat down in the back of the cafeteria. Yukimura noticed that most of the trainers glared at them as they passed.

"So," said girl started, "who's your trainer?"

"Um... Hold on." Yukimura glanced at his schedule. "It's… Kyo Daisuke."

"Kyo, huh?" she said thoughtfully.

"He's pretty good, but he's a totally stickler."

"What do you mean?"

"You like have to do everything the way he says. And if he asks you if you need a break just say yes. Otherwise, he thinks that you're pushing yourself," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind."

A few high schoolers passed by and Emily nodded to them. They gave a nodded to her and looked Yukimura with a pity in their eyes.

"Emily?"

"Hm?"

"Why do you sit back here?" It was bothering him. He couldn't understand why a girl as nice as Emily was seemingly alone here.

She thought for a moment before shrugging, "I guess because I can see and hear everyone."

"Oh, I see."

"What about you? Aren't you gonna try to make friends?"

"I've never been one to have tons of sort-of friends. I prefer a few close friends."

"Oh, I see," she mimicked.

They both smiled.

.

It was Yukimura's first day of training, and he was frustrated to say the least. He had met his trainer, Kyo Daisuke, after breakfast. They started Yukimura's training with five laps. And if that wasn't insulting enough Kyo had made him walk the laps! It took more time and it was humiliating. He was Yukimura Seiichi, the Child of God, for Pete's sake! He didn't allow even the first years at Rikkai walk laps without giving them at least twenty more.

Once he finished, the trainer had had the gall to ask if he needed to take a break. Yukimura just nodded and sat under a tree to cool down. He was extremely irked by the fact that they seemed to not want him to try.

"Hey, miracle boy, how's training."

Said boy looked around to see who was talking to him, but came up at a loss since no one was around.

"Up here, silly."

Yukimura looked up in the tree and saw a girl dangling from a branch.

.

Emily was bored. No, scratch that bored would have been an improvement. She had absolutely nothing to do! They had yet to find her a new trainer so she wasn't 'training' and she wasn't allowed to leave to go shopping or something.

_Well, I might as well go bug doc into letting me watch miracle boy practice, _she thought walking through the waiting area.

"Knock, knock," she said, opening the door.

"Emily, well this is unexpected. What do you need?" Dr. Suzuki asked.

"I need your permission to go walk around the grounds."

"May I ask why?"

"You may, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'll answer."

The doctor sighed. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew he was fighting a lost battle. The girl in front of him was going to walk around the grounds, permission or not. "Fine," he said, handing her a note to give to the check-in woman.

"Thanks!"

As she left, Emily wondered why she even wanted to see Yukimura… There had been plenty of times when she had been left alone in the rehab center with nothing to do, and never before had she wanted to be around people.

When she came to the tennis courts she saw him. The blue haired boy was walking around the court with a frown upon his face. She climbed a nearby tree and watched him finish his laps.

Once he was done his trainer came to him they spoke for a moment before he stated over to where she was. It seemed as though he didn't notice her. So, dangling from her branch, she decided to make her presence known:

"Hey, miracle boy, how's training?"

She watched amused as he looked around only to draw a blank when he couldn't find anyone.

"Up here, silly."

He looked up her and instantly he's frown deepened.

"Get down."

She didn't understand. No one talked to her like that. Not even the doctors. "Excuse me?"

"You could hurt yourself. Get down from the tree."

"Point?"

Glaring, he answered, "You'll be stuck here longer."

Sighing, she swung her body so she was sitting on the branch. "Concerned?"

"That's not down." Yukimura's patience was almost gone for the day. Even Akaya knew not to annoy him when he was like this.

"Don't be such a prick," she replied, but nonetheless be slide of the branch landing on her feet.

"I'm not in the mood."

"Oh, suck it up," she said, glaring at him. If there was one thing Emily couldn't stand was when people felt sorry for themselves.

_This girl just doesn't know when to stop_¸ Yukimura thought, clenching his jaw.

_This boy survived some deathly disease, and here he is feeling sorry for himself. How lame_, Emily thought,

They stood there, glaring at each other.

.

**AN: So what did you think? Yes, I know that Yukimura was slight OOC at the end, what with all the frowning and glaring, but just remember he had a sucky day at training.**

**Review are loved and cherished!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thanks for the reviews and the alerts!**

**IMPORTANT: I'm going to be skipping a bunch of days because I'm dying for them to get out of the rehab center. So this chapter takes place the day before Yukimura gets out of the rehab center.**

**Because of the big time skip I'll be showing you what happened through flashbacks. **

**-Coco**

"_A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." –Albert Einstein_

…

**Chapter 3: Seeing You In Pain  
**

He was ecstatic. Tomorrow he'd be with his team again, pushing each and every one of them to their limit.

He had never realized what a big part of his life Rikkai was.

Soon he's be able to enjoy Niou's pranks, Jackal's sensibility Yanagi's calculations, Akaya's childishness, Sanada's stoic-ness, Marui's hyperness, and Yagyuu's gentleman-ness.

He was happy. Happier than he had been in a long time.

…

Despite what everyone else thought, she wasn't made of stone, she did care about some things.

Yukimura was one of those things.

He was leaving tomorrow, and there was nothing she could do but smile and act happy for him.

She still had another two weeks to go before she'd be let out and she'd have to face that week alone.

The two of them had grown closer over the time they spent together. He was like the best friend she never had growing up. He, in a way, understood her better than she understood herself.

She was scared to be alone again.

…

"What do you think? I think she'll be fine with a just few more days of training. That is, if she sticks with it."

The doctor ran a hand through his hair. "But I think the real question is, will she?"

The rehab center's worst patient was being asked to be taken out. Apparently her parents wished for her to go to school. They wanted her to quit sports, so they really didn't care about her injury.

"I need to go check on Yukimura. I still haven't informed him about his checkups." Doctor Suzuki left the room in search for the blue-haired boy.

…

What does one do when upset?

A musician would play.

A dancer would dance.

An artist would paint.

And an athlete… what would they do?

Well, obviously, they'd compete.

So that's what she did.

Was it stupid? Yes. Did she care? Not really. Would she get in trouble? Of course. Did she care? Nope. Would she be sentenced here longer? She always was. Did it really matter? It never did.

She left her room in search for newbie and challenged him.

…

They had decided to walk around the grounds as they discussed his future.

It was recommended that he take it easy until Nationals. No playing extremely long or hard matches. No participating in any extra long practices.

They walked by the tennis courts and saw a match in progress.

Said match was between a girl and boy. The girl looked to be around 14 and the boy around 17.

The girl was winning.

… She also looked oddly familiar to Yukimura and to Doctor Suzuki…

She kind of reminded him of… No… she wouldn't have… Surely she wasn't that stupid…

Yukimura ran to the courts, only to find that that was indeed Emily.

"Emily! Stop!" he yelled, just as said girl jumped up and smashed the ball.

"30-Love," she said, smirking at the boy on the other side of the court.

"Shut up and serve!" he yelled back.

_You asked for it_¸ she thought tossing the up into the air.

She was about to hit the falling ball when…

"Emily! What are doing?" Yukimura screamed.

"Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate!"

"Get off the court," he ordered.

"No," she replied stubbornly. She was about to win and nothing was going to stop her.

"Emily, now," he said in a threatening voice.

"Or what?" she glared at him.

"Emily, what are you doing?" Doctor Suzuki came up behind Yukimura.

"I'm trying to finish this game!"

The doctor sighed. He knew this wouldn't end well. "You get two serves. They have to be aces."

She grinned at him. "That's all I need."

She served the ball, and it was an ace.

But, the second one wasn't as lucky. The boy hit the ball back and she couldn't help it. She ran and returned, only to get sucked into a rally. It lasted until he lobbed the ball and she went for a smash.

However, this time when she landed, her ankle snapped. She let out a cry in pain before collapsing to the ground.

All of Yukimura's irritation with the girl vanished as he saw her crumble to the ground. Within seconds, he was at her side. As gently as possible he picked he up and carried her over to the doctor.

They took her to get x-rays and ended up having to put a cast on her leg. She was unconscious the whole time.

When she finally came to, it was late, probably around 10 PM. She noticed that she was in a hospital bed instead of in her room

She also noticed that Yukimura was sitting in the chair next to her bed. His head was bent so he hadn't noticed that she had awakened.

"Yukimura," she said quietly. She knew he would be upset with her.

His head snapped up. He looked at her; there was worry in his eyes. "Are you alright? Does it hurt? Should I go get a nurse?"

She blinked; she had expected to be yelled at, not fretted over. And somehow the latter made her feel worse. "No," she smiled at him, "I'm alright. What happened?"

"You were stupid," he answered bluntly.

She rolled her eyes. "Obviously, but can you give me specifics?"

He sighed, "You were at the end of your match when you went for a smash. Somehow your landing got messed up and you broke your ankle."

"Hm…," she said thoughtfully. "Well at least it's nothing too bad."

"Nothing too bad? What exactly is 'too bad' for you?"

Emily recoiled; she hadn't expected him to get upset over something like that. "Never mind, I just meant that at least it not like a lifelong thing or anything."

Yukimura stood up and walked to her bed. Staring straight at her, he said, "You need to be more careful. You can't just go around challenging whomever you choose."

She scowled, "Well, I don't see how this is of your concern."

Yukimura's jaw dropped. "Not my concern? We are friends, aren't we? Don't friends look out for each other's best interests?"

"Oh please, what would you know about being a good friend?"

"Excuse me?" Yukimura drew back, hurt.

Emily, realizing she was revealing too much, looked away, refusing to say more.

Their soft breathing was the only thing that could be heard. Minutes passed, but to them, it felt as though a lifetime had passed.

"You should go," Emily said.

"What?"

"You have to leave early tomorrow. You should go get some sleep."

"Emily…," he started.

"Yukimura, don't."

"But-"

"No." She sighed. "What are we even doing? It's not like we'll even see each other once we get out here."

Yukimura placed a hand on her cheek, causing her to look at him. "Emily, just promise me something."

"What?"

"Promise me that you'll behave once I leave. No repeats of today."

"I can't," she whispered.

"Yes you can! I know how strong you are! If you choose not to, I know you won't."

She looked away from him.

"Look," he said gentler, "today when I saw you get hurt, it broke my heart. I hated seeing you in pain."

The sincerity of his words scared her. She knew how she felt about him, but hearing him confess this, worried her. She didn't want this. She never wanted him to feel the same way. It would only cause problems for the both of them.

"Yukimura," she turned to face him. "We can't do this."

His eyes found hers and they showed hurt. She was rejecting him. It cut through him and left him struggling to breath. "Why?" he managed to choke out.

"Because, it only causes trouble," she replied, turning away from him once again.

"Emily, don't," He hated himself for how weak he sounded.

"It can't happen. Not between us."

Having to say this broke her heart. But it was what was best for them.

"Why?" he asked for the nth time.

"We'll just end up hurt."

He took her hand into his, "I would never hurt you, I swear."

She looked back at him, with sadness in her eyes. "Don't make a promise you can't keep."

He looked back at her, determined to make her believe him. "I'm not."

He leaned forward, and caught her lips with his own.

…

**AN: So what did you? Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey, thanks for the reviews!**

**Okay, so Yukimura actually isn't physically in this chapter. This little chappy is dedicated solely to Emily Roberts, our precious little OC.**

**-Coco**

…

**Chapter 4: A Change of Heart**

When she woke up the next morning, it was still dark outside. According to her phone, it was 5:15 AM. Yukimura should have left 15 minutes ago… He hadn't said goodbye to her last night, promising that he'd see her again.

Sighing, she sat up. She hated hospital rooms; they reminded her of her grandfather…

Looking around, she noticed a vase of forget-me-nots on her bedside table. There was note attached that read:

_Emily, I wanted to say goodbye to you in person, but when I came, you were still sleep. You looked so peaceful that it didn't feel right to wake you. I hope that I'll be able to see you when you get out of here._

_-Seiichi_

She smiled as she got out of bed. Wincing, she hobbled over to where there was a set of crutches leaned against the door.

Since it was so early, not too many of the nurses were around so she had no trouble walking out the center. She went down to the tennis courts. It took longer than usual, due to the crutches; normally she would have ditched them by now, and she had tried, but she remembered Yukimura and decided that he was worth it.

There was a tennis match going on, so Emily walked back to her room; it was all she could do to not start playing.

When she got to her room, she unlocked the door and flipped on the lights. She checked her cell phone for anything she may have missed and saw a text message. It said:

_Good morning, Emily. –Seiichi_

Smiling, she texted back:

_Morning to you too, Yukimura. –Emily_

She grabbed a book of her bedside table and started to read. About five minutes into the book, her phone started playing _Our Song_ by Taylor Swift, signaling that she had received a text.

**(AN: This part is them texting each other. I'll put there name's before their texts so you know who' saying what. The **_**italics**_** are the messages.)**

Yukimura: _Yukimura?_

Emily: _This is Yukimura right?_

Yukimura: _Yes…_

Emily: _Is something wrong?_

Yukimura: _…Never mind._

Emily: _What is it?_

Yukimura: _I just thought that we were on a given name basis…_

Emily: _Really?_

Yukimura: _We are together, aren't we?_

Emily: _You mean like together together?_

Yukimura: _…Yes… You know, like dating…_

Emily: _Oh…_

Yukimura: _Well, if you don't want to, that that's fine with me… I just thought since we kissed that we were like… you know…_

That's when her phone decided it would be the best time to die. She began a frantic search for her phone charger, but in the end she couldn't find it. She'd need permission to go into town to get a new charger.

...

There was a knock on his door and when the girl walked in he frowned.

"What?" he said, his voice held an undertone of harshness.

"I need a pass to go into town."

"No."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"You can go now," he said, gesturing to the door.

"Excuse me?" He had never said no… Well, he had never said a flat out no.

"You can go," he repeated.

"No, I heard you the first time."

"Then is there a problem?"

"Why can't I go?"

"Because," he said.

Seeing how he didn't plan on elaborating, she said, "Do I get to know why?"

"…"

"Oh come on. You never just say no!"

"…"

"Oh, my gosh. When did you become such a stiff?"

"That's enough!" he slammed his hand on his desk.

Emily jumped back is surprise.

"You just don't know when enough is enough do you?" he yelled.

"…" she felt tears starting to form.

"You always just keep pushing and pushing! One of these days you're going to push the limit to far and really hurt yourself!"

She bit down on her lip to try and keep from crying.

"I'm sick of warning you of the consequences just to have you ignore them!"

Tears started running down her face and a sob escaped her lips.

The doctor's eyes softened. Sighing, he walked toward the girl. "Emily," he said softly.

She bolted up and ran out the door, ignoring the pain shooting up her leg. She ran, not knowing where her feet were taking her, and not really caring.

Before she knew it, she was standing outside his room. She opened the door and walked in. It was like it was before he'd left; the only difference is that it was void of the blue-haired boy.

Once she closed the door, she fell against it. She started to cry, hard.

She cried because she had never been yelled at like that before.

She cried because she missed Yukimura and he wasn't there to comfort her.

She cried because her damn leg hurt.

She cried until she just couldn't cry anymore.

She wiped her tears and decided that she had to do anything to get out here.

…

**AN: So what did you think? Review!**

**Oh, and there's a poll on my profile. It's for my next story. I want to know what pairing you guys would be interested in.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Thanks so much for the reviews! Okay, so I'm doing the school American style, so the students are in a different classroom with different people every class.**

**So who's ready for some drama?**

**Enjoy!**

**-Coco**

…

**Chapter 5: Flashbacks and Sacrifices**

"Now, miss, please be sure to have a uniform by the end of the week."

"Yes, ma'am."

"You have about an hour until school starts so it would be wise to try and find your classroom."

The girl nodded and walked out of the office. Instead of trying to find her classroom, she took to wandering the grounds. As she walked to the back of the school, she heard the faint sound of a tennis ball hitting a racquet.

She bit down on her lip.

_Flashback_

"_If we agree to this, you swear, no sports?"_

"_None."_

"_Sweetie, are you sure you want to do this?"_

"_Yes. Let me go to Rikkai and no sports. I promise."_

_End of Flashback_

She turned and walked away. Unfortunately, she was had her head down and ran into a boy headed to the tennis courts.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going," the girl said, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"No, it was my mistake," the boy replied, offering her his hand.

"Thanks," she said, taking his hand as she stood. "I'm Roberts Emily. I'm new here."

"Ah, I'm Yagyuu Hiroshi. It's nice to meet you. Do you need help finding your homeroom?"

"Um… that might be really helpful."

"I'll go ask our captain if that's alright. Come on," he walked towards the court.

Emily sighed. _Come on, _she said silently to herself,_ you can do it._

They walked to the courts and Emily noticed some of the girls outside the courts glaring at her. She rolled her eyes.

_Fangirls, how disgustingly pitiful._

She stopped at the entrance to the courts. There he was. Yukimura, the reason she was here, the only thing that's been on her mind.

She waited as Yagyuu walked over to him. Once he started to talk to him, four fangirls came over to her.

"Look, new girl, Yagyuu-sama doesn't like you. He's only being nice to you because it's his job as student council president."

"Okay."

"…"

"…"

"…"

Emily sighed. "Anything else I can help you with?"

"Just don't try to get too close to him."

"Okay. But I won't deny him as a friend."

The leader of the girls stepped forward. "Look, you little freak, if you even try to become his girlfriend, I'll make sure it's the last thing you do."

"Don't worry; as attractive as Yagyuu-san is, I'm not interested in him like that."

"Whatever. Just know that we'll be watching."

"Yeah, okay, sure."

The girls huffed and walked away.

…

Yukimura had been watching a practice match between Marui and Niou when Yagyuu walked up to him.

"Yukimura-kun?"

Yukimura nodded for the boy to go on.

"I was wondering if I may be excused from practice this morning."

Yukimura turned to the boy in surprise (not that it showed because he was… well… Yukimura, and Yukimura is never surprised).

"Do you have a reason to ask this, Yagyuu-kun?"

"There is a new student and I offered to show her around school as long as I have your permission."

"Her?"

"Yes."

Yukimura looked in the direction Yagyuu had nodded his head. He saw five girls; four of them were wearing Rikkai uniforms and the fifth was wearing street clothes.

"Yagyuu-kun?"

"Yes?"

"What's her name?"

"Roberts Emily. Why do you ask?"

"…"

"Yukimura-kun?"

"Yagyuu-kun?"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind if I showed her around?"

"… Um… I suppose not… I'll go ask her."

Yagyuu turned around and walked back to the girl.

"Sanada-kun?"

"Yes, Yukimura? Do you need something?"

"No, no, but do you think you could handle the rest of practice?"

Sanada started to panic. "Is something wrong? Are you not feeling well? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"Sanada-kun, I am fine, but I have something I need to do."

"… I see… I suppose I can handle the rest of practice."

"Thank you."

Yukimura walked over to Yagyuu and Emily.

"Are you ready?" he asked her.

"I guess." As they started to walk away, she turned around. "Bye, Yagyuu-san! I'll see you at lunch."

Yukimura narrowed his eyes. _Yagyuu can't have been with her more than a few minutes and yet she already seems so familiar with him._

The couple walked in silence for a few minutes.

"So… what homeroom are you in?"

"Hold on." Emily stopped walking and knelt on the ground. She started rummaging through her back pack until she found her schedule. "I'm in homeroom… 119."

"Hmm… I believe that's also Yanagi's homeroom."

"Oh, he's the data person right?"

"Yes… How'd you know that?"

"You told me… you know… back at the rehab center."

_Flashback_

_They were in Yukimura's room. He was sitting on his bed watching her go through his things._

"_What's this?" she asked, holding up a photograph._

"_I believe it's a picture."_

_She rolled her eyes. "Not what I meant." She sat next to him and set her head on his shoulder. "Who this?" she pointed to a boy with red hair._

"_That's Marui Bunta."_

"_And this is?" she pointed to a boy wearing a hat._

"_That's Sanada Genichirou. This," he pointed to a boy with his eyes closed, "is Yanagi Renji. These two are Niou Masaharu and Yagyuu Hiroshi," he first pointed at the boy with white hair then to a boy with glasses. "The bald one is Kawahara Jackal. And the younger boy is Kirihara Akaya."_

"_Can I meet them someday?"_

"_Sure, princess, I'll introduce you to them."_

_End of Flashback_

"So… you and Yagyuu-kun seem close…" Yukimura watched her.

"Hmm? Oh yeah. He's so sweet." She stood back up and shouldered her backpack.

"Oh." Yukimura started walking.

"Yukimura, is something wrong?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"…"

"..."

Emily's patience ran out. She grabbed Yukimura's arm and turned him to face her. "What did I do to upset you?"

He refused to answer or even look at her.

"What? You aren't going to tell me?"

"…"

"Fine then!" she turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait," Yukimura grabbed her hand. "It's just…"

"Yes?"

"The day I left… I mean…"

"Yes?"

Yukimura sighed. "Emily, can we just act like the whole time at the rehab center never happened?"

"…"

"Emily?"

She removed her hand from his and started to back away.

"Emily, please just let me explain."

"Don't bother." She narrowed her eyes. "If that's what you really want, Yukimura-san, than I will oblige."

Hearing the ice in her tone hurt him; it felt as though his heart was being ripped out.

"Emily, I'm sorry."

"No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I trusted you."

Yukimura tried to speak but nothing came out. He could hear the hurt and anger in her voice.

She shook her head. "I told you not to make a promise you couldn't keep." She turned and ran away from him.

But not before he saw the tears in her eyes, the trembling of her lip, or heard the waver in her voice. He hated himself for hurting her.

He wanted to run after her.

He wanted to apologize, to convince her that she was everything to him.

But… he knew that was selfish. He knew she deserved more than him.

So he let her go.

…

**AN: So what did you think? Review!**

**And don't forget about the poll on my profile.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Thanks for the reviews!**

**Okay, so I know in the manga the time between the Kantou Tournament and Nationals is like thirteen or fourteen days, but I'm going to turn it into a month. So… yeah… that's all.**

**Enjoy!**

**-Coco**

…

**Chapter 6: One Little Mistake**

It had been about a week or so since they had talked. In the halls she avoided him and she ate lunch in her classroom. Staying away from him was so difficult considering all she wanted to do was run and hug him every time she saw him.

But she also wanted to reverse time, to back before she had met him. Because of him, she had given up tennis. She would no longer take place in championships or taunt her tired opponents. Without tennis, and without Yukimura, she was nothing.

**...**

His heart ached every time he saw her. He could tell, no matter how hard she tried to hide it, that she was sad. All he wanted to do was go to her and make all her worries disappear. He wanted to hold her and promise her the world.

But he had already pushed her away. He had already hurt her. He already lost his chance.

…At least, that's how it would be if his team didn't have a say.

…

"Come on, Akaya! No wimping out!" Niou said pushing him through the door.

"Niou-senpai, stop! I don't want to die!"

Marui slapped Akaya upside the head. "Mura-buchou isn't going to kill you. He just loves you, that's why you have to be the one to ask him; he'd kill the rest us."

"I don't want to do it!"

"Akaya," Yanagi said, putting a hand on his kouhai shoulders, "think about it like this: we're asking you to do this because you'll get the best results. You have the greatest percentage of getting us the answer we want because you're Yukimura's _favorite_."

Akaya stop struggling. "Really, Yanagi-senpai, I'm his favorite?"

Yanagi nodded.

Akaya smiled one of his goofy smiles. "Well, I guess since I am Mura-buchou's _favorite_, I can do this."

"Good, now go, brat!" Niou shoved him out the door. "And don't come back without Yukimura-buchou!"

"Okay, Yanagi-kun, are you absolutely sure about this? We don't want to make a mistake and embarrass Yukimura-buchou and Roberts-san."

"Jackal, there's 87% chance that something happened between them that has caused Yukimura's latest change in behavior."

"Okay, now, how are we going to get the American chick in here?" Niou asked.

"Niou-kun," Yagyuu started, "while she is here, please refrain from referring to her as 'the American chick'. We don't want to offend her."

Niou rolled his eyes.

"You raise a good point though Niou. How are we going to get her here?"

"I think this is a bad idea," Sanada said.

"Why?"

"Because if Yukimura wanted us to help, he would have asked us; we may end up just making everything worse."

"Nonsense. Mura-buchou obviously really likes this girl and didn't want us to know because he was worried we'd scare her off with our awesome skills," Niou said finishing with a pose.

Yagyuu repressed a sigh. Why was he, of all people, stuck with a completely insane doubles partner?

"Well, I'm going to go find her!" Niou started to make his way to the door when Sanada grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"I think it would be better if Yanagi, Yagyuu-kun, or Jackal-kun went to get her," he said firmly.

"Why's that? It was my idea."

"Because I'm sure that if, and I stress the word if, they are together, I highly doubt Yukimura would be fond of the thought of you flirting with his girlfriend."

"I'm not going to flirt with her!"

All the regulars, minus Yukimura and Akaya since they weren't there, gave him a look of disbelief.

"Okay, maybe I was going to flirt a little bit," Niou admitted sheepishly.

"Yagyuu, would you please go get Roberts-san?" Yanagi asked.

"Sure, where is she most likely to be?"

Yanagi thought a moment. "Assuming that she's still here at school, it's a 64% chance that she is in the library and 36% chance that she's on the roof.

Yagyuu nodded in thanks and then he was out the door.

…

"_I'm through accepting limits, 'cause someone says they're so. Some things I cannot change but till I try, I'll never know! Too long I've been afraid of losing love I guess I've , if that's love it comes at much too high a cost! I'd sooner buy defying gravity. Kiss me goodbye I'm defying gravity and you can't pull me down."_

Emily was laying on one of the benches on the roof. She was quietly singing lyrics to herself while reading one of the books she had just picked up at the school's library.

About 15 minutes later she sat up sighing. She put her book away and grabbed her homework. It was quiet expect for the scratching of her pencil and the light tapping of her foot to the music.

The door to the roof opened slowly.

Emily looked up to see a familiar face. "Yagyuu-san, what are you doing here? Don't you have tennis practice?"

Yagyuu sat beside the girl after she had moved her belongings. "Actually, practice was cancelled due to some undisclosed reason."

"Ah, I see," she said thoughtfully. Then, she smiled, "No wonder I don't have a headache yet."

She rolled her eyes when she noticed the look Yagyuu gave her.

"So what are you doing up here?"

"Looking for you?"

"Huh?" Emily hoped this wasn't going where she thought it was. As much as she liked Yagyuu, she knew she'd only ever see him as a friend.

"You know Niou-kun right?"

Emily let go of the breath she had been holding. "I know _of_ him."

"Well, he wants to meet you."

"Excuse me?"

"He knows that we are friends and seeing that he is one of my closest friends and my doubles partner, I thought it sounded like a reasonable request."

"No! I don't what to meet him! What if he doesn't like me? He could ruin my life!"

Yagyuu jumped at her sudden outburst. "Emily," he started trying to calm her down, "it'll be fine."

She stared at him. "Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes," he answered firmly. "Since you are my friend, Niou-kun wouldn't dare do anything to you."

"Other than his average pranks of course," she smiled.

Yagyuu gave a small smile in return, "Of course, other than those."

…

Akaya had managed to get Yukimura to come to the clubhouse, no shock there. All Akaya had to do was offer Yukimura a pouty face and his puppy dog eyes and he could get whatever he wanted.

"Yanagi, what exactly are we waiting for?"

"Yagyuu isn't here yet."

"Ah."

At that moment the clubhouse door was opened. Emily came in first laughing, one of her hands was brushing her bangs out of her eyes and the other was holding onto Yagyuu's.

"That's ridiculous," she said walking farther into the room, it seemed as though she didn't notice the other regulars. "There's no way that he could have done that. It's crazy!"

Yagyuu's lips curved into a small smile as he continued, "But its true. He can tell you more about it later, that is as long as you don't try to re-create it."

She smirked. "No promises on that one, Yagyuu-kun."

Someone cleared their throat bringing Yagyuu and Emily's attention to the fact that the other regulars were present.

"What exactly is going on here?"

Emily froze.

That voice it couldn't be.

As she turned in the direction of the voice, she gasped.

There he was, in all his glory.

At that moment, the same thing passed through everyone's, except Yukimura's, mind:

_'Oh shit.'_

…

**AN: So what did you think? Love it? Hate it?**

**Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Thanks so much for the reviews!**

**In case you guys didn't notice, I love drama and cliffhangers… but mostly cliffhangers.**

**Enjoy!**

**-Coco**

…

**Chapter 7: Heart vs. Head**

When he saw them together, Yukimura could feel his heart break. The way she smiled at Yagyuu, the way she held his hand, and the way she laughed with him. _That should be me_, Yukimura thought bitterly.

He watched as she noticed him and he noted how her smiled disappeared. She took a step back, away from him, and she might as well of just ripped his already broken heart into pieces.

"Hello, Yagyuu, it's nice of you to join us," Yukimura said, hiding his pain behind a smile.

Before Yagyuu could answer, Emily dragged him over with her to a corner.

Yukimura turned to the rest of his team.

"Well, may I ask why Roberts-san is here?"

Niou shrugged. "Maybe he wanted to bring her," he answered, throwing his doubles partner under the bus (metaphorically of course).

"Saa… I see."

…

"What is he doing here?" she whispered eyeing Yukimura.

"I'm not sure."

"Yagyuu…"

"… Yes?"

"Cut the crap and tell me why the hell Yukimura is here!"

"Please, Roberts-chan, watch your language," he replied impassively.

"Yagyuu, I'll break your arm if you don't tell me."

"That wouldn't be very polite."

"I swear I'm going to fu-"

"Language, please," he interrupted.

"Shut up!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Upset by his silence, Emily punched him in the arm.

"… Why did you hit me?"

"Because you didn't say anything!"

"I believe you told me to 'shut up'."

"But… I… you… Ugh! You are so mean!"

"Pardon me, but I fail to see how I am being mean."

"Yagyuu, you baka!"

"Please calm down, Roberts-chan."

"Well, I'm leaving." She started to head to the door.

Yagyuu grabbed her arm. "Please, Roberts-chan, you have to stay."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"… What will it take to make you stay?"

"Call me Emily."

"… That's… I don't… Fine."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"…"

Yagyuu sighed. Sometimes this girl was a lot worse than Niou. "Yes, Emily-chan," he replied.

She smiled. "Okay then. So what are we here for?"

"You and Yukimura are going to work out whatever problem you two have with each other."

Emily sucked in a breath. No, she could do anything but that. How could he expect her to talk with the one boy who broke her heart? "Yagyuu-kun, I can't do that."

"Why is that?"

"He doesn't wish to speak with me," she said in a whisper.

"That's not true," he replied gently.

"Yes. It is. He hates me."

"Do you really think that?"

She turned to the speaker. "No, Yukimura-san. I know it."

…

He listened silently as she talked about him with Yagyuu. But, he couldn't help himself from speaking out when she said he hated her. That couldn't be farther from the truth. He loved her. He loved her more than he needed air, water, or food. It broke his heart to hear her.

When he heard her response, he felt almost like crying. It utterly crushed him when he heard the tone of her voice, and when he saw her true feelings in her eyes.

"Emily," he said, reaching out to her, "please, can we just talk?"

"Talk about what? The only things we can possibly talk about are how you're a jerk," she said acidly.

"Hey, don't talk to Mura-buchou like that!" Akaya glared at her.

Yukimura turned to him, "Akaya, please calm down. Someone getting upset isn't going to help the situation."

"But, Mura-buchou, she said that-," he stopped when he received a kick from Niou.

Yukimura took a breath and turned back to face Emily. "Can I just explain?"

"Explain what, Yukimura-san? What explanation do you think you can offer to make this better?"

"I just want you to understand that I did what was good for you," he said.

Emily turned away from him. She could she could see the love that showed in his eyes, and she knew it was for her. But that didn't make what he did to her right. "For me? How can hurting me do any good?"

"I never meant for you to get hurt," his voice cracked a little.

"Well, that plan was a fail. Maybe you should have left it be, and let whatever was meant to be happen."

"I couldn't take that kind of chance with you."

"You couldn't or you wouldn't?"

"…Both…"

"…"

"Emily… please just answer one question for me."

"What?"

"Do you hate me?"

Emily thought for a moment. Did she hate him? She hated how he had hurt her, that's for sure. But hating him… that never crossed her mind. She loved him. And she believed that if you really love someone, you love them until the day you die. However, Yukimura couldn't know that. It would give him something to use against her, and she wouldn't allow that. So, with an emotionless voice and cold uncaring eyes, she answered, "Yes. I hate you." Then she left.

And with that, Yukimura's world came crumbing down.

…

She ran to the nearby park and started to cry. She hated the way he made her feel so weak and vulnerable, but she also hated the way she felt so utterly and completely safe around him.

…Okay, maybe she didn't hate the latter; the truth was that it scared her. Around him, she felt completely at home, which gave her a lot of chances to be betrayed and gave him numerous opportunities to betray her.

She knew that he was the one person that could cause her possibly irreparable damage, and she wasn't sure if she was ready to take that chance again after he had already hurt her. That's the real reason she had turned him down. The truth is that she was too afraid of getting hurt.

She didn't trust him, and she didn't trust herself.

But love is based on trust.

So if she doesn't trust the one she loves, does she really love him?

Her heart said yes, but her head said no.

What does this mean?

…

**AN: So what did you think? Love it? Hate it?**

**Review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Thanks for the reviews!**

**We've all established that Yukimura's a butt, right? Well, in my mind, he's about to get a hundred times worse.**

**Enjoy!**

**-Coco**

…

**Chapter 8: Shocking Discoveries**

The next day, everyone could tell Yukimura was off. He didn't show up at morning tennis practice and he arrived at school the moment the bell rang. He ate lunch in the cafeteria, but he sat alone rather than with his team.

Needless to say, the regulars were worried. Actually, scratch that, worried would have been an improvement. They were downright scared. Just what kind of spell did this American transfer cast on their beloved buchou?

So they naturally decided to go ask her. However, since everyone was so absorbed with Yukimura, they failed to realize that Emily hadn't shown up at school that day. They needed to contact her as soon as possible, but the office couldn't give them her address or telephone number.

It was Yanagi who suggested they check Yukimura's phone for her phone. Naturally, seeing as he was the Trickster, it was Niou's job to get Yukimura's phone from him. They all assumed that Yukimura wouldn't notice because he was… out of character.

Yukimura's phone was in their possession by the time of afternoon practice, which Yukimura skipped.

"Okay, let's check his contacts," Yanagi said, flipping open Yukimura's phone.

Under normal circumstances, someone (namely Sanada, Yagyuu, or Jackal) would object to such an invasion of privacy, but under normal circumstances, Yukimura wouldn't be skipping practice.

They scrolled through Yukimura's contacts until they saw her name and number. Before they called her however, Niou suggested they look at Yukimura's text messages first, that way they wouldn't have to talk to her unless necessary. Everyone agreed.

Yanagi scrolled through Yukimura's texts and when he reached what they were looking for he stopped. "Hey, I found it," he said to the others.

"What's it say?" Akaya asked, grabbing for the phone.

Marui slapped his hand, "Don't touch."

"It's a message from her to Seiichi. It says: 'You mean like together together?'" Yanagi read.

There was a silence, then…

"Eh?"

"What?"

"They're dating?"

"Holy crap!"

After they had settled down, Akaya started pouting. "How come Mura-buchou didn't tell us he had a girlfriend?"

Niou rolled his eyes. "Isn't obvious, brattling? Mura-buchou and Roberts-san obviously aren't together anymore."

Akaya turned to him with big eyes. "Really? How can you tell?"

Marui starred at him. "Akaya, you were dropped on your head as a kid, weren't you?"

"That's not nice!" Akaya said, sticking his tongue out at Marui.

"Very mature considering you're the next captain of Rikkai," Niou replied, smacking Akaya upside the head.

"Ow, that hurt, Niou-senpai!"

"Stop whining, you brat."

"Niou-kun, that's not the way to talk to your kouhai," Yagyuu said, shaking his head.

"Whatever, puri."

"What did buchou say back to her?" Jackal asked, getting everyone back on topic.

"Hold on a moment, I'll check." Yanagi scrolled through some more texts. "He replied: '…Yes… You know, like dating…' Wait, there's another text message from him after that; it says: 'Well, if you don't want to, that that's fine with me… I just thought since we kissed that we were like… you know…'"

Another moment of silence then…

"Kissed?"

"Oh, my gosh!"

"Go Mura-buchou!"

Yagyuu sighed. "Niou-kun, do you really think that that was the appropriate response for what's going on right now?"

Niou stared at him. "What? It's about time Mura-buchou got some action! I mean, he never goes on dates or anything."

"Dude, don't say it like that," Marui cut in.

"Like what?"

"'Got some action.' It makes it sound like… well, you know."

"How do you know they didn't, puri?" Niou smirked.

Everyone stared at Niou.

"Did what?" Akaya asked breaking the silence.

"Did what? You can't possibly say that you don't understand? We're talking about Mura-buchou having-"

"Niou-kun!"

"Che, whatever, Yagyuu. How's he ever going to learn if you won't let me teach him?"

"I assure you that he doesn't need your brand of knowledge."

"But I wanna know!" Akaya whined.

"No," Sanada said firmly.

"Why can't I know what Mura-buchou did?" Akaya pouted.

"What did I do?" said a voice.

The regulars slowly turned around to see their beloved buchou. Their beloved buchou whose phone they had taken.

"Buchou? What are you doing here?"

"Well, Marui, I am captain of the tennis team, and this is the team's clubhouse," Yukimura answered calmly.

"Oh, hahaha," Marui chuckled nervously, "That makes sense…"

"Saa… What are you doing with my cell phone?"

…

It had been a while since she had played tennis and it was killing her. She assumed that with Yukimura around it would be easier, but she did not account for what would happen if he did not want her.

However, she refused to let him know that he had hurt her. So she smiled and laughed around others, but cried when she got home.

She'd always see him around the school, smiling with the regulars, and practicing at the street courts.

It had been about two weeks since she had come to Rikkai and she was easily bored. The classes were dreadfully easy, the teachers were mundane, and the students were petty. Plus, guys wouldn't stop asking her out! It was driving her insane. She was the exotic American and apparently she was a prize. She'd say no because the guys that asked her out were the typical players, however, she had also heard that there was a bet out on who she'd say yes to first.

Not to mention the fact that she, by saying yes, would be cheating on a certain blue-haired tennis captain. She knew that they weren't going out, but still, it didn't feel right.

Emily grabbed her books and headed for the main entrance of Rikkai. But, when she got there, she saw a sight that made her blood run cold.

Yukimura Seiichi, the reason she was in this hellhole, was standing at the entrance. He was smiling to a girl, who Emily recognized as Touda Michiko.

As if that wasn't enough, Yukimura leaned towards the girl and kissed her gently on the lips.

With that, Emily's world came crashing down.

…

**AN: So what did you think? Love it? Hate it?**

**Review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Thanks for the reviews!**

**Enjoy!**

**-Coco**

…

**Chapter 9: Confessions and Memories**

Emily watch with teary eyes as Yukimura and Touda walked away happily holding hands. It was as if a small part of her had died.

_What does she have that I don't?_, she wondered, walking to her apartment.

When she got to her room she grabbed her cell phone and dialed Yukimura's number.

"Hello?"

"We need to talk. Meet me at the park near Rikkai," she said. She hung up without waiting for him to reply.

She started her way there thinking about what to say to him.

…

Yukimura stared at his phone. He was surprised by the fact she had called him, and even more surprised by the fact she sounded rather angry. He was contemplating whether or not he should meet her at the park, but eventually decided that it might be beneficially for him to go.

Yukimura arrived at the park about ten minutes later. He saw Emily sitting below one of the trees looking sullen. He put on a smile and made his way over to her.

"Good evening, Roberts-san," he said politely.

"Yukimura," she replied coldly.

"Is something wrong?"

There was a moment of silence.

"You and Touda, how long have you two been together?" she broke the silence with a blunt question.

Yukimura thought for a moment. So that's why she had called him.

"She's liked me for a while now… We got together recently, I suppose."

She looked away from him. "Were… you two… together before we met?"

Yukimura's eyes widened. He hadn't thought that's what she was getting at. "I'm not a player, Roberts-san," he answered firmly.

Emily grimaced. "Well, what do you expect me to think? Everything was perfect at the rehab center, then I come here and you don't want me, but you're with that girl."

Yukimura opened his mouth to speak but quickly shut it. Sighing, he sat down next to Emily and tried her to face him. "I never said that I didn't want you."

Refusing to look at him, she opted for staring at the ground. "Then why?"

"Because… I'm not good enough for you."

"That's a lie."

"Excuse me?"

"I bet you just didn't want me anymore. I bet you just wanted to be with you oh-so beautiful new girlfriend," the edge in her tone was unmistakable.

Yukimura's eyes narrowed. "Don't be like that. It's not like you haven't fallen for someone else also."

Emily scoffed. "Oh have I? Then please enlighten me as to whom."

Yukimura looked away. "You've fallen for Yagyuu. It's obvious that you two are very happy together."

Emily stared at him for a moment before she started laughing.

Yukimura looked incredulous. What had he said that was so fun?

…

She knew it was kind of rude to laugh at someone, but she couldn't help it. The sheer knowledge that Yukimura thought she could fall for Yagyuu was too much for her. Now, that's not saying that Yagyuu wasn't totally awesome, and she did love him, just not like that. He was like the brother she had always wanted.

"What?" Yukimura asked for the nth time. Aw, he sounds so cute when he's annoyed.

"Yukimura, Yagyuu-kun and I aren't dating," she eventually choked out.

"What?"

"We aren't dating. I mean I love him and all, but he's like my brother."

Yukimura looked away.

"Is that why you started dating Touda? Because you thought I was going out with Yagyuu?"

Yukimura didn't answer, but Emily noticed the slight blush added to his features.

Smirking, she continued, "You were jealous! And now you're mega blushing!"

Yukimura's face burned at the last comment.

"Aw, you look so adorable!" she said moving to sit on his lap.

Yukimura stared at her.

She snaked her arms around his neck. "You want to know something? I really don't hate you. I think I'm in love with you. And now that I know you love me back its all okay." She smiled at him and leaned towards him. However, right before their lips touched she pulled back. "Sorry about that. You still technically have a girlfriend, so after you break up with her everything will be okay. But, I'll have to wait like a week before I date you."

Yukimura raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"Oh I absolutely hate it when people dump someone for someone else," she said in an offhanded tone.

"Well, isn't that what I'm doing?"

"Not really. You were supposed to be mine from the start."

He thought for a moment. "I suppose that's true. Do you remember what I said to you that night on the courts?"

Emily smiled. Of course she remembered.

_Flashback_

_There they were, breaking curfew and about ten other rules. She really was rubbing off on him. They were laying on the tennis courts staring up at the beautiful night sky._

"_How many star do you think there are out there?" she asked randomly._

"_Well, it's impossible to know, but I'd have to guess somewhere around five or so billion."_

"_Hmm… that seems like an awful lot."_

"_Well it probably is."_

"…"

"_Emily?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Why'd you ask that? It seems a bit random, even for your usual standards."_

"_I was just wondering. If you think about it, compared to everything else in the world, we're barely even little blips in the universe._

"_Well," Yukimura replied, wrapping his arms around her, "I may not know how many star there are in the universe, but I know one thing for sure. You're my life."_

_Emily rolled her eyes. "Not trying to ruin the moment or anything but that sounds really corny."_

_Yukimura kissed the top of her head. "Corny it may be, but it's true. When I look at you, I see the one person I'll ever love. When I look into your eyes, I see the girl I want to spend my future with. When I see your smile, I feel as if I'm on the top of the world because I, if only for a minute, am the reason for your happiness."_

…

**AN: Short chapter, I know and I'm really sorry.**

**What did you think?**

**Review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Thanks for the reviews!**

**I'm so sorry for the late update!**

**Just to inform you guys, it's about a week and a half before Nationals. A couple days have passed since the last chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

…

**Chapter 10: An Old Friend**

Emily and Yukimura started dating about four days ago. He had just broken up with Touda when they got together, but she didn't care. Yukimura belonged to her, and she was very possessive.

That set aside, she still had to deal with fangirls. However, considering what she had already went through, they weren't that bad. True, she did end up late to some classes due to their abuse, but she could live with that. It wasn't as if they were her –

No. She wasn't going to think about that. Not now. She swore to herself that she'd leave it in her past. With the help of Yukimura, she was starting to forget.

Although, it wasn't as if the boy knew what he was helping her with. She had taken the necessary precautions to make sure he wouldn't find out. Emily knew it was wrong and that she shouldn't hide it from him, but he'd surely turn away from her if he knew the truth.

…

He couldn't be happier. He was back together with the girl he loved, his team was on their way to their third consecutive Nationals title, and he was officially caught up with all school work. Everything was great in his world.

Currently, he was walking towards the tennis courts. He had a meeting with the art club, so he was a tad bit late. That's when he saw Emily outside the courts.

Smiling, he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Good morning."

She smiled at him. "Morning, Seii-chan. You're a little late, aren't you?"

"I had an art club meeting."

"Well you better go get ready, lest you be later."

Yukimura nodded. He gave her a quick kiss and started toward the clubhouse.

What was she doing here? That's not to say he didn't like it, but she hadn't come to one of his tennis practices before… Well then, he'd just make sure everyone was to act good and proper. After all, he was the captain and it was his job.

The team was assembled on the courts with Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi facing the regulars and non-regulars.

They were going to be starting a new training regimen and Yanagi needed everyone's attention so he could explain it properly. When he was finished, they broke everyone up into groups. There would be a regular in charge of each group who was going to help them with form, returns, and serves. They would continue this drill for the first half an hour of practice.

Within that time, Niou managed to scar the minds of three first years, Marui got bubblegum stuck in his hair, Sanada slapped five first and second years, Akaya started growling when someone messes up, and Yanagi scared four first years with his eerily accurate predictions. Also, much to Yukimura's dismay, Emily almost died from laughing about fifteen times.

Needless to say, that that drill failed.

For the rest of practice they would be having practice matches. Yukimura put Akaya against Marui, Jackal against Niou, and Yagyuu against Yanagi. Once the matches started, Yukimura walked over to Emily.

"So what do you think?" he asked apprehensively, although his face and voice betrayed nothing.

"Of what?"

"Well… of my team I guess…"

"They're… well… they seem…"

"Yes?"

Emily took out her phone. "Opps, hold on, I have to take this." She flipped open her phone and walked out of hearing range.

Yukimura sighed. He really wished she would have told him she was coming. At least that way he'd be able to make sure to warn them to behave.

…

"Hola!"

"Emily? How are you?"

"Shiraishi, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me," he chuckled from the other line.

"What's up? It's been, like, forever since I've seen you."

"Well, you never called to tell me you got out of the rehab center."

"… Oh… I'm really sorry about that," she replied sheepishly.

"Its fine, but I would like to see you again. Do you think we could schedule something?"

"How about you schedule a practice match with Rikkai? That way you'll get to meet my boyfriend." She smiled.

"Boyfriend?" he questioned.

"Yep, he so sweet and hot and amazingly perfect!"

"Really? Well, we'll just see about that."

Emily rolled her eyes. Shiraishi was definitely like the protective older brother she never wanted.

"Okay, I'll see you then, Shiraishi."

"Bye, Em-chan."

"I told you not to call me that," she pouted.

"Love you too." And with that, he hung up.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked, walking up to Yukimura.

"Who was that?"

"No one, but if Shitenhouji calls for a practice match say yes, okay?"

"Why?" he asked curiously.

"Just say yes, okay? Pretty please?" she asked, giving him a special puppy dog face.

It worked effectively and Yukimura could do but agree.

She smiled brightly at him. "Yay! This is going to be so much fun."

Yukimura stared at her, hoping she'd explain more, which she didn't.

…

Today was their practice match against Shitenhouji. Yukimura was slightly looking forward to it. He had been told that Shitenhouji had an excellent rookie, so Akaya would get some marvelous practice. Also, they were said to have a doubles one team that was all but perfectly synchronized.

It was seven in the morning, he and his team were warming up, but he could only think of one thing.

Where was Emily? She had made him agree to this match, and yet she wasn't even here. Shitenhouji would be arriving soon and- No, correction they were already here.

Yukimura watched as the eight Shitenhouji regulars walked towards them. No… wait, there were nine people… Shitenhouji had brought a girl with them.

Yukimura's eyes widened. That wasn't just any girl… That was _his_ Emily!

He watched as he chatted happily with Shitenhouji's captain, Shiraishi, and he felt something foreign feeling in his stomach.

When they were only a few yards away, Emily started to drag Shiraishi towards him.

"Hey, Seiichi!" she greeted him with a smile.

Yukimura nodded, tearing his eyes away from their adjoined hands to look at her.

"Do you two know each other?" she asked, seemingly oblivious to jealousy.

Shiraishi wrapped his arm around her. "I don't believe we've officially met, but I have heard of you, Yukimura-san."

"Then it's nice to meet you, Shiraishi-san," Yukimura replied bitterly.

"Well, Em-chan, I need to inform the team of the line up, so I'll be back in a moment with the rest of the team," Shiraishi said, smiling at her.

"Okay, Kura-chan!"

Yukimura's eyes narrowed as Shiraishi leaned down and kissed Emily on the cheek.

…

She watched as Shiraishi walked away. When he was out of hearing range, she turned to Yukimura, frowning. "Are you upset about something?"

"Oh, of course not, I'm perfectly happy," he replied sarcastically.

Emily rolled her eyes. "What's wrong this time?" Honestly, she was starting to get fed up with him. He was always upset about something.

"Nothing," he said, turning away from her.

"Hey," she grabbed his arm as he started to walk away, "I deserve an answer!"

Yukimura wrenched his arm out of her grasp. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

Emily scoffed. "I don't really care. We're talking about this now!"

"No."

"Yes."

"Emily," he said warningly.

"Don't 'Emily' me. I have a right to know why you're pissed at me."

Yukimura sighed and looked away. "Why are you with him?" he asked softly.

"Huh?"

"Shiraishi. Why'd you come with him?"

"Oh, Kura-chan? That's what this is about?" she questioned.

Yukimura nodded cheeks slightly pink.

"Kura-chan and I have known each other for a while. Originally, I came here to Japan to challenge some of the stronger players. But when Shiraishi and I were playing a match for fun, I tore a muscle in my leg. That's why I was at the rehab center, remember?"

"… Does he know that we're… together?"

"Well, he knows my boyfriend is on Rikkai's tennis team and that he's a regular. I'll tell him now."

About a minute later, Shiraishi had his arms wrapped around Emily's stomach. "Miss me?"

Emily giggled. "Sure."

The next thing she knew, Yukimura had grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a kiss.

When they pulled back, Yukimura looked straight at Shiraishi. "To further our introduction from before, I'm Yukimura Seiichi, Emily's boyfriend."

…

**AN: So what do you think?**

**Review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: So thanks for all the reviews!**

**Sigh… Another late update… My apologies!**

**Enjoy!**

**-Coco**

…

**Chapter 11: The Beginning of the End**

Rikkai was in a buzz. In a week, the tennis team would be going to Nationals for their third consecutive win. Yukimura couldn't be happier with how things were turning out.

Their practice match with Shitenhouji had been successful. They hadn't lost, but the game had gone until Singles 2.

"'Yukimura-sama, we made you some food to wish you luck with your training.'" Niou read. There was a meal; no it was more like a feast, on Yukimura's desk, courtesy of his obsessive fanclub. "Has Emily seen this?"

"No. It'll be gone in a little while though," Yukimura answered calmly.

"She's going to freak out if she sees it.'

"She'll understand."

"Who'll understand?" Emily asked, walking to stand beside Yukimura.

"Hey, Em-chan, what's up?" Niou greeted.

She pouted. "Don't call Em-chan!"

"Has Yukimura told you about the gifts his fangirls gave him?" Niou smirked.

Emily's eyes narrowed. "No. He didn't mention it. Niou-kun, do you think you could give us a moment?" she asked. Her voice was deadly calm.

Niou nodded and walked out of the room.

…

"How have you been?"

"School's a bit boring, but other than that I'm fine," Emily answered.

"That's not what I meant," Shiraishi replied, frowning.

Emily sighed. "I know what you meant, and my answer hasn't changed."

"When are you going to tell him?"

"I… He's busy with Nationals. I wouldn't want to distract him."

"He won't care."

"Yes he would."

"Then he's not a good boyfriend," Shiraishi said firmly.

She rolled her eyes. "I guess it's not that he'd care, but I would. I don't want to mess him up because he's really excited for Nationals."

"What's your point?"

"Well, you know… I don't want him to go into the courts feeling guilty."

"I bet he'd want to know."

"Doesn't matter, he's not going to find out."

"Emily," he replied seriously, "if you don't tell him, I will."

Emily's eyes narrowed. He wouldn't, would he? "Don't you dare," she answered acidly.

"You need to tell him. It's his right to know!"

"No! He'll get upset."

"So you'd rather suffer in silence?" Shiraishi yelled back.

She glared at him. "If it means sparing him, then yes!"

Shiraishi frowned. After a moment of thought, he slumped down. "Fine, you win. However, let's say he finds out. What will you do then?"

"Won't happen," she shot back automatically.

"Let's be theoretical."

"Let's be rational."

"Just humor me."

"Well, I suppose if that happened I'll just make up some excuse as to why I didn't tell him."

"You think that'll work?" he questioned.

She shrugged. "We'll burn that bridge if we come to it."

Shiraishi's brow furrowed. "You mean cross?"

"Nope, if it happens, we'll be crossing the point of no return."

…

_Flashback_

_Yukimura was in his room pacing when Sanada knocked._

"_Yukimura, are you sure you're alright?" Sanada had asked._

"_Yes, I'm fine, Sanada. Why do you ask?"_

"_You've… seemed… out of sorts this morning. Has something happened?"_

"_No."_

"_Have you and Emily gotten into a fight?"_

_Yukimura raised an eyebrow. "Why would you ask that?"_

"_Well," Sanada started cautiously, "Niou mentioned that she saw the things your fangirls gave you."_

"_And…?"_

"_It's just that I know that Emily has a tendency to get overly jealous."_

"_I see…" Yukimura smiled. "Well, I'm touched by your concern, but it just so happens that everything is fine between us."_

"_Really?" questioned Sanada skeptically._

"_Yes."_

"_Then why were you pacing when I got here?"_

_Yukimura's smile faltered for a second. "I… I was trying to think up a line up for Nationals. Something we haven't done before. Maybe like putting Niou in singles or having Yanagi play doubles. Especially for when we go against Seigaku in the Finals, we'll want to do something they won't expect. I want us to go out with a bang."_

"_You seem sure that we'll be playing Seigaku."_

"_Have you any doubt about it?"_

"_What about the team we played last year at Finals? Don't you think they'll make it?"_

"_Seigaku has gotten stronger. We must be prepared for anything."_

"… _I see…," Sanada said hesitantly._

"_However, we shall not lose to them again. If I must, I will play their rookie and beat him. Rikkai will win," Yukimura replied determinedly._

_Sanada could only nod in agreement._

_End Flashback_

"Regulars, line up!" Sanada shouted.

"Well," Yukimura started, after the Regulars came, "with a week left before Nationals, we are going on a short trip. We'll only be gone for four days and we'll be having some intense training."

"Yukimura-buchou?"

"Yes, Yagyuu?" Yukimura smiled.

"What about school?"

"I've already discussed this matter with the principal and he assured me that the teachers would be okay with this."

Yagyuu nodded satisfied.

"What should we bring?" Jackal questioned.

"You should bring the usual things that you would need if you were going to spend the night at someone's house," Yanagi answered.

"Where are we going?" Niou asked.

"The woods," Sanada replied simply.

"I don't want to go camping!" Akaya whined.

"Akaya," Yukimura said gently, "we are going camping, but we're training in the woods."

"Mura-buchou?"

"Yes?"

"Not trying to be nosy or anything," Marui said, "but have you talked to Em-chan about this?"

Yukimura's brow furrowed. "No, why?"

"Seiichi, you barely even see her anymore," Yanagi stated.

"I'm sure she'll understand. She knows Nationals are coming up."

"Just because she understands doesn't mean she happy with it," Niou shot back.

Yukimura couldn't respond.

…

"Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up. It could stay this simple. I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart. No one will desert you. Just try to never grow up. Never grow up," Emily sang. She had the volume on her iPod turned all the way up.

Her phone vibrated on her bed. Caller ID said that Yukimura was calling.

"Hey," she said, turning her iPod off.

"Hello, Emily. Do you think that we could meet somewhere to talk?"

"Sure. When and where?"

"How about in ten minutes at the park?"

"Perfect, I'll be there."

Once she hung up, she grabbed her jacket and walked out the door. When she got to the park, Yukimura was already there. "What's up?"

"The regulars and I are leaving for training camp for a few days."

Emily narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. "What?"

…

Yukimura ran over what he was going to say a million times. But, when the time finally came, he just let it out.

"The regulars and I are leaving for training camp for a few days."

"What?"

An idiot would have been able to tell she was pissed off. "We need to train harder. Nationals are coming up."

"So?"

"It's a big deal for us."

"I don't care! That's been your excuse for everything lately! I barely even get to see you anymore!"

"Emily, please calm down," he asked gently.

"Shut up."

"Look, I'll find a way to make it up to you."

"What's the point?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are we even dating anymore? We never go out anymore, although, it's not like we ever did. I'm lucky if I get to see you at all because you're either at practice or surrounded by your rabid fans."

Yukimura smiled at her gently. "I'm sorry. I've just been really busy."

"As if that means anything, Seiichi. Shiraishi is just as busy as you – if not busier – and he makes it an effort to call or text me every day."

Yukimura's eyes narrowed slightly, but his smile remained the same. "What are you trying to say?"

"I don't think this is working out." Emily turned away.

"Give me one more chance."

Emily sighed. "After the training camp, I want one day. One day where it's just me and you. No tennis at all."

"Okay." Yukimura smiled. It wouldn't be that hard.

"Promise?"

"I promise." He pulled her into an embrace and kissed her gently on the lips.

Let's face it. What could possibly go wrong?

…

**AN: So what did you think?**

**I'm really sorry about all the OOCness with Yukimura, but it's really hard because practically none of them are shown in a relationship!**

**Review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Thanks for the reviews!**

**I'm so sorry for the really late update, please forgive me! I'll have another update soon, I promise!**

**Enjoy!**

**-Coco**

…

**Chapter 12: Problems Arise**

"Nice shot, Emily."

Emily blushed. "I only hit it because you're helping me, Seiichi." They had spent the entire day together so far. He had picked her up from her apartment in the morning and they spent the rest of the morning in the park where he talked her into letting him draw her. Then they went to lunch, which must to Seiichi's distaste, Emily paid for the both them.

Currently, they were at a carnival. Seiichi was helping her with a dart throwing game. The problem is that he wasn't letting her go, not that she minded, but it was making moving a bit more difficult.

"Seiichi, can you let go?"

He smiled at her and tightened his grip around her waist. "No, I don't think so. If I do you might float back up to heaven."

Emily rolled her eyes, but none the less, she smiled back at him. "That was so lame."

"I can't help it. I lose my cool when I'm around you."

She managed to slip from his grasp and she began walking away. "You can't lose something you never had," she called over her shoulder.

With a chuckle, he started to follow after her.

…

How they ended up on the Ferris Wheel, Yukimura will never know. All he knew was that, at that very moment in time, they were happy. Emily was smiling contently with her head on his shoulder, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Yukimura knew that he hadn't been paying enough attention to her and it bothered him to the extreme. To be able to spend the whole day with the girl he loved was amazing. He wanted to make the end of this day special for her, but he only had six hours to put it in motion… And of course, come up with an idea of something to do.

They were currently walking towards Yukimura's favorite diner for an early dinner. They were planning on going to the beach and walking with the sunset. Emily had tried to protest saying that it was stupid and cliché, but when Yukimura asked with a smile and pleading eyes, she agreed.

When they were about to enter the diner, Yukimura saw a familiar flash of white hair.

"Buchou!" Niou screamed as he ran up to them.

"What's wrong, Niou?" Yukimura asked concerned. It looked as though Niou had run all the way from Rikkai, which didn't make any sense because it would have been a couple miles for him to have run.

"Akutsu… Jin… from Yamabuki… is at the courts… he wants… to play you…," Niou said in between pants.

"What are you talking about Niou?"

"He's causing problems… He said he's not going to leave until he plays you."

"I…," Yukimura started but stopped short. He could just leave Emily by herself. "Emily, can-"

"No… you should go. Duty calls," she said quietly. She turned away from him as Niou began pulling him down the street.

Soon, they broke out into a run. A few minutes later, they arrived at Rikkai where chaos was the order of the day.

"What happened?" Yukimura asked shocked.

"He went completely psycho."

"Ah, there's the man I was looking for."

The two of them turned around and faced Akutsu.

"Let's go." Yukimura took out his racquet and headed toward the court. Determination burned in his eyes. This guy, Yukimura vowed, would never mess with his team again.

…

To say Emily was pissed off would be the understatement of the century. When she arrived at her apartment she started to throw anything she could get her hands on. She overturned the coffee table and broke about a dozen glasses. After around an hour of pointless destruction she sank to her knees onto the shards of glass.

The demolition was over just as the tears started. How could she have been so stupid? She gave up everything for him and he couldn't even give her one day. Did he even care about her?

Emily clenched her teeth as she roughly rubbed the tears out of her eyes. Taking a shaky breath, she grabbed her tennis equipment and ran out of the apartment.

_An hour later_

"What were you thinking? Obviously you weren't thinking otherwise you wouldn't have done it. I just can't believe you would do something so reckless and stupid! How can you possibly-"

"Shiraishi, you're ranting again." Emily sighed. She knew what she had done was stupid and she really didn't need to hear it from him.

Shiraishi slumped down in the chair beside her. "What do you expect? You could have injured yourself again."

Emily rolled her eyes. "I could get hurt every time I walk out my door. What's your point?"

He shot her a dark glare. "Don't joke about this. And where's your boyfriend? He should be here. Why haven't you called him?"

She looked away. "I… We… I don't even know. We aren't together anymore."

Silence was all that answered her.

"… You want to know how it happened. Don't you?"

Shiraishi nodded.

She took a shaky breath and began telling him. She started with when they had first met at the rehab center and ended to when she was admitted into the hospital.

…

After Yukimura crushed Akutsu, he and the rest of the team went to the park to relax. They would be going to Nationals in two days and Yukimura believed that a break would be good for them.

His phone buzzed, notifying him of a text message. It was from Emily. It read: _'Sorry, but I can't do this anymore. We're over.'_

The regulars turned to him after they heard his phone crash to the ground. Yukimura's eyes had gone glassy and a frown graced his features.

"Yukimura, is something the matter?" Sanada asked concerned.

Yukimura opened his mouth but no words came out.

"Buchou, are you okay?" Akaya asked, shaking the older boy slightly.

Yanagi bent down to pick up Yukimura's cell phone and looked at the text message. "You should sit down," he said, leading Yukimura to a nearby bench. "Do you want to tell us what happened?" He passed the phone onto the other regulars; each of them had a look of shock or confusion on their face after reading it.

"I… I don't understand… I thought you two fixed whatever problems you had," Yanagi said cautiously.

Yukimura put his head in his hands. "I thought we had. I don't understand what's wrong…"

The regulars flinched at how uncharacteristically weak their buchou sounded.

"B-buchou… are you crying?" Akaya asked, his voice close to tears also. Yukimura didn't cry, he couldn't.

"Yukimura, you don't even know it's really her."

Yukimura looked up at Niou. "What do you mean?" he choked out.

Niou shrugged. "Well, it was a text so anyone with access to her phone could've sent it."

"That's right," Yagyuu said, backing up his partner. "At least go see her."

"What if it really was her? What if she really doesn't want me?"

"Then it'll be up to us to help you win her back."

"Yeah! We can kidnap her and keep her locked in the clubhouse until she loves you again!"

"…"

"What?"

"Akaya, I don't think that will work."

"Oh…"

…

"Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"Yeah, I really wouldn't want to risk seeing him."

"Em, you can't-"

"I know, Shiraishi, I'm working on it. I just need some time."

"What do you want me to do if I see him there?"

"Just don't mention me. I want him to go through today without any distractions."

"You think that'll work?"

"I have to."

…

**AN: Okay, so it was short. I'm really sorry! But there's a confrontation seen coming soon! So you can look forward to that.**

**Review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Thanks for the reviews!**

**I apologize for the wait. It's been a month since I updated… again.**

**Anyway if you check out my profile you can find a link to my brand spanking new website! If you're going to look at anything on the site you should check the blog, which up until now I've kind of just been talking to myself. I'm going to be posting regularly in it and you might just find some stuff out about my fics (:**

**Enjoy!**

**-Coco**

…

**Chapter 13: Avoiding the Topic**

**First Day of Nationals - Afternoon**

"Where is she?"

Shiraishi turned around and came face to face with Rikkai's Three Demons.

"Where is who?" Shiraishi asked, looking at the captain of Rikkai's tennis team.

"Emily," he said, and though his smile remained intact, he narrowed his eyes at his fellow captain.

"Ah, she decided to stay home today," Shiraishi replied calmly.

"Who's this, buchou?" Tooyama asked screaming at Shiraishi's side.

"This is Yukimura Seiichi. He's the captain of Rikkai's tennis team," Shiraishi replied to the freshman rookie.

Tooyama gasped, his eyes wide. He slowly crept toward Yukimura and raised his arm.

Yukimura raised an eyebrow at the red haired boy. "What are you doing?" he asked as Tooyama poked him.

"Ahh! I touched God! I get to live forever!" he screamed running away.

Shiraishi sighed. "Kenya, would you mind?"

The speed star nodded. "Sure thing, leave the rookie to me." He smiled as he took off after the imaginative boy.

"Now," Yukimura started, "back to Emily. Why isn't she here? I doubt that she wouldn't be here to support you."

"She already wished us luck before we left."

"She'd still come."

"Well, she wanted to make sure _someone_ went onto the courts with a clear mind." After a pointed look at Yukimura, he and his team took their leave.

"Renji?"

"Yes, Seiichi?"

"Is it more likely that she didn't come or that she's here and is avoiding me?"

"Hmm… I believe the former is more likely. Although the exact calculation is unclear due to the fact that we don't play Shitenhouji today and I've only spoken to her a few times, however I don't believe that Shiraishi was lying about her not being here.

"So what are you going to do, Yukimura?" Sanada asked.

Yukimura smiled ruefully. "Nothing, since she's not here there's hardly anything I can do."

…

"Emily, sweetie, we're going out," her mother called.

The black haired girl waved from her position of sitting upside down on the couch. "See you later!"

Emily sighed as the door clicked shut. She grabbed the television remote and flipped through all the channels until she arrived at the sports channel. They were talking about the tennis tournament. Normally they probably wouldn't be at the tournament with cameras and everything, but this year was special. There were a lot of upsets going on and it seems as though people were extremely interested.

A few of the teams had already played, she noted, as they showed the current scores. Higa, Fudomine, Hyotei, and Yamabuki had won so far. Rokkaku, Echigo Daira Daini, Tsubakigawa, and Saint Icarus were all going home.

Shitenhouji's match should be starting soon, right after Rikkai's.

Rikkai… she'd be at the courts right now if it wasn't for them. Well, not so much them as their captain. Although, it wasn't really his fault either. She simply couldn't trust herself to be able to see Yukimura without falling for him all over again. This was what was best for them and even if he didn't like the idea now, he'd get over it. She was doing this for him.

She rolled her eyes. Really, she scoffed; she was turning into some primetime cliché heroine or something. Her life wasn't some stupid love story. She was simple girl who gave up everything and was stupid enough to fall in love with a boy who was too obsessed with tennis to see anything else.

With a groan, she smacked a couch pillow to her face. Her life really was like a stupid love story. Up until now at least. There was no way that it would end like one.

What was she expecting anyway? Yukimura to just give up everything he had worked for to be her boyfriend? For him to just realize that he loved her as he walked onto the court and just leave? Honestly, each notion she thought of was more ridiculous than the last.

Oh well, she shrugged. Getting up, she grabbed her school bag and pulled out her literature homework. They had to write an essay. That was it. Their teacher hadn't given them a topic or anything. She just told them to write an essay. How stupid.

Emily thought for a moment. Essays had never been her strong point. What do people usually write about? Their goals? Friendship? Love? Hmm… Eh, who cares? It wasn't due for a week or so. She'd do it tomorrow.

Oh, look. Shitenhouji's match was starting.

…

**Second Day of Nationals – Morning(ish)**

They had won. Again. Of course.

The rest of the matches had been postponed due to rain and the players free to go home.

Our dear captain of Rikkai could be found staring at his phone. Yukimura was having an intense internal battle. He really wanted an explanation, but at the same time he felt as though Emily needed to be the one calling him, not the other way around. He also didn't want to upset her if all she wanted was a little space.

Gathering up all his courage, he grabbed his phone and dialed her number.

"_Hello?"_

His breath hitched.

"_Hello? Is anyone there?"_

"Emily? It's Seiichi," he replied hesitantly. He was greeted by silence while he wondered if she had hung up on him.

"_Um… Yukimura-kun, what do I owe the surprise?"_

"Can we see each other? I really think we need to talk."

"_Whatever about?"_

What Yukimura didn't quite understand was why her voice shouted genuinely surprised. Did she really think he wouldn't want to know why she broke up with him? He was equally shocked by her answer when he had voiced his question.

"_Because you don't love me anymore."_

Yukimura's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about? That's ridiculous!" He could hear someone talking to Emily but couldn't exactly understand what they were saying.

"_Yukimura-kun, I need to go now."_

"Wait, Emily, I-," he was stopped when he heard the click. Sighing, he sat down on his bed and dialed his friend's number.

…

**Third Day of Nationals – Afternoon**

"Come on, Em-chan, at least act like you're happy to be here," Kenya said, poking the aforementioned girl.

"Sorry, Kenya-kun, I'm just a bit tired," she replied, smiling at the speed star.

"Emily, you can relax. Rikkai's match might be after ours but it's on a completely different court," Shiraishi said.

"I'm not worried about that."

"Oh, Em-chan, you must really like this guy to lie to us about it," Kenya laughed and nudged the blushing girl.

"I'm not lying!"

"I'm not lying," Hitouji mimicked.

"Stop it!"

"Stop it!"

"Hitouji, that's not helping," Shiraishi intervened.

"I'll be back in a minute," the girl mumbled as she walked away.

"Don't get lost! Our match starts in 15 minutes!"

Emily moved her hand as if shooing the comment away. A few minutes later, she was lost.

"Stupid tennis courts, why do they even have to have such a big arena for a stupid tennis match," she said under her breath. "Oops, sorry!" She jumped back when she ran into someone. "My bad, I wasn't watching where I was going."

The brown haired boy she ran into just stared at her for a moment before giving her a curt nod.

"Okay then, well I'll see you around…"

"Tezuka, that's no way to treat a girl," a boy said coming up behind him. "Hi, I'm Fuji Syuusuke."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Roberts Emily." She held out her hand.

"Ah, American, huh?" he replied, shaking her hand.

Emily laughed lightly in reply. "That obvious?"

"Kind of. Here in Japan, we bow when we greet someone."

"Hmm."

"This," he nodded his head in the brown haired boy's direction, "is Tezuka Kunimitsu."

"Nice to meet you as well, Tezuka-kun."

He simply nodded again.

"So… you guys here for the tournament?"

"Yeah, we're on our way to our next match actually," Fuji answered with a smile.

"Cool. Who are you-"

"Fujiko!"

Emily stifled her laughter to a small giggle as a red headed boy, around her age, was jumping up and down, and waving his hands wildly above him.

"Nya, Fujiko! It's almost time for out match!" he said running up to them.

"Okay, Eiji, we'll head over there soon," Fuji said, still smiling. "This, by the way," he gestured toward her, "is Roberts Emily."

Eiji said at her for a second before launching himself at her. "Fujiko, where'd you find her? She so adorable!"

Emily blushed deep red.

"Eiji, don't hug her too tightly," Fuji replied chuckling.

"Nya, Mimi-chan, come to our game!" Eiji screamed. He started flailing his arms wildly again.

"Mimi-chan?"

"Hoi, hoi! I give all my friends nicknames."

Emily smiled at the hyper boy. "Um… I wish I could go to your game, but I have to go to my other friend's game. I'm actually on my way to his game now, but I kind of got lost." She grinned sheepishly at the boys.

"Do you know what court their game is on?" someone asked behind her.

The girl jumped in surprise. She landed on her butt when she'd tried to spin around too fast.

"Inui, you shouldn't do that. Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine. And you are?"

"My name's Oishi and this is Inui," the boy replied, first gesturing to himself then to the taller boy carrying a notebook.

"Do you know what court their game is on?" Inui repeated.

"No idea. Sorry."

"Do you at least know what school?"

Emily stared up at him for a second. "No, I have no idea what school he goes to." Her voice was practically dripping with sarcasm.

Inui stayed silent for a moment. "Well, are you going to tell me?"

"Dude, there's no need to be a spaz. He goes to Shitenhouji."

"Nya, we're playing them next! We're Seigaku! Sorry, Mimi-chan." Eiji had been helping her up off the ground when she had told them. As a result, he let go of her and she landed on the ground once again.

Standing up, she smiled. "Well, today just got slightly more interesting."

…

**The Day after the Semi-finals**

The Finals for Nationals was postponed for three days. Yukimura had decided that the team would rest for today, train hard tomorrow, and rest the day before Finals. Normally, he would have his team training, but he needed to talk to Emily. That's why the young captain could be found outside his ex-girlfriend's house.

Knocking on the door, he took out his phone to check the time. It was still fairly early, around nine in the morning, so she'd probably still be home.

"Can I help you?" asked the boy who opened the door. He had sandy brown hair and a kind smile.

Returning the smile, he replied, "Is Emily home? I'd like to speak to her."

"Wait a second. I recognize you!" The boy gaped at him. "You're the one that broke Em-chan's heart!"

"Now, Kenya, don't exaggerate. Emily broke up with him."

"Hello, Shiraishi." Yukimura nodded at the other boy.

"What do you think, Shiraishi? Would Em-chan want to see him?" Oshitari asked.

"I suppose you want to talk to her about the breakup, correct?" Shiraishi questioned, ignoring Oshitari's question.

"Yes, I just wanted to ask her some questions about it."

With a sigh, the bandaged captain stepped aside. "I guess you have a right to know. I'll go get her. Kenya, could you show him to the living room?"

Oshitari lead him to the room where the rest of the Shitenhouji regulars were.

"Who's this, Ken-kun?" Konjiki asked the dash specialist.

"Everyone, this is Yukimura Seiichi, he's Em-chan's old boyfriend."

Tooyama gapped at him for a moment, and then he started bouncing off the walls. "Oh my gosh! Em-chan was dating God! That means- Hey, that hurt!" He rubbed his head because Zaizen quickly silence the younger boy with a smack.

"Zaizen, you shouldn't hit your kouhai," Ishida said. He sighed when the boy simply shrugged his shoulders.

"He already has brain damage. It's not like I'm doing anything worse."

"Shiraishi Kuranosuke, I'm going to murder you!"

"Ghosts are after buchou! We have to save him!" Tooyama screamed. Before he could rush up the stairs, he was grabbed by Oshitari.

"That was Em-chan, silly. Shiraishi must have just told her that Yukimura-kun's here."

"I don't care! Get him out!"

"You don't think she'll actually hurt Shiraishi, do you?" Ishida asked glancing toward the stairs.

"Don't worry, Ishida," Chitose replied. "Shiraishi will be fine."

There was a crash upstairs.

"She probably tripped," Chitose answered before anyone could say anything.

"Come on, Emily, don't be silly about this," Shiraishi said from the top of the stairs.

"No, I don't want to see him! That was the whole point of the Nationals thing."

"Emily, let go of the handle before you break it!"

"I don't care!"

"If you don't stop this I'm going to have Gin come up and just carry you down."

"No you won't!"

"Yes I will. And I won't let him let go of you until after Yukimura-kun leaves."

"I'll break his arms so he'll have to let me go!"

"Emily."

"… Okay, I'll admit that was stupid, but I'm not going down."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Are."

"Not."

"Are."

"Not."

"Emily, can't you do me this one favor?"

"Because I don't want to talk to him."

"But you owe me."

"You wouldn't…"

"Emily, you owe me since you didn't go to our first two games at Nationals."

"But, Shiraishi…"

"Don't you dare whine at me. Now go."

"Fine, stupid, mean person."

The Shitenhouji regulars exchanged a couple glances as she came down the steps.

"Did you guys hear all that?" she asked. She laughed nervously as they all nodded.

"Emily," Yukimura started, his voice was gentle and caring as he took a step towards her. "I just want to ask you some questions."

She eyed him warily as he made his way to her. "I honestly don't think we have anything to talk about."

Yukimura frowned, although she was watching him, she refused to meet his eyes. "What's wrong? What happened between us?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Yukimura took a deep breath. "I don't think that's the truth. Actually, I know that's not the truth. You know why I'm here and you can't avoid this topic forever. I just want to know why you broke up with me."

"There's nothing to tell," she muttered, turning away from him.

"I need an answer." He moved in front of her and forced her to look at him.

"You already know." She glared at him.

"Then tell me anyways."

"Because… because you're already in love and it's not with me."

…

**AN: So what did you think?**

**Yeah, they were probably OOC and I'm majorly sorry for that.**

**Review!**


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